"The Role of Wages and Job Benefits in Job Search: Evidence from a Large-Scale Online Field Experiment" - Mahsa Khoshnama

Abstract:

This paper studies the role of wages and job benefits in job search behavior using a large-scale randomized control trial on online job boards. We quantify the elasticity of job seekers' applications to posted wages and their willingness to pay for twelve job benefits by randomly providing users of the job boards with supplementary information regarding wages and benefits associated with the positions explored--information sourced from a market-leading employer review platform. The revealed-preference estimates suggest a quantitatively small wage elasticity of applications: A 10% higher wage increases job seekers' likelihood of viewing and applying to an ad by 3-5%. Job seekers in lower-paid occupations exhibit a higher sensitivity to wages. Certain job benefits are highly valued by job seekers: Home office and company car are valued at about 15 percent of wages, and company-provided child care and parking spots at around 9 percent of wages. The average position offers job benefits worth 23 percent of wages. We also document that higher-paying companies tend to offer more benefits. Taking the distribution and valuation of job benefits into account, we show that inequality in job value is significantly higher than inequality in wages.